- Health care reform-who really benefits? No one knows for sure...yet.
The Health Care Reform Bill was one of the most controversial pieces of legislation passed down since the creation of Social Security. There is no question that this issue and the way it was handled by lawmakers has left the Citizens of the United States quite….well, divided. Not to mention confused, frustrated and unhappy.
What We Know, What We Don’t Know
It doesn’t help matters much that the new law is so large and complicated that it leaves even economic experts wondering what the real result will be in the future. The rest of us are left to figure it out on our own or with the help of the media, neither option based purely on fact but more on supposition and opinion.
Here is what we DO Know:
Only small employers who are eligible to receive the healthcare tax credits really benefit. Big employers who already have health insurance coverage won’t be impacted (except with higher premiums and excise taxes on “Cadillac plans”). Interestingly big employers without insurance will now be forced to provide insurance or risk major penalties, obviously impacting their bottom lines. Low income individuals receive credits too but since many of these same people qualify for benefits under the current system, the overall impact of the healthcare bill on them is debatable.
Another issue is employees who do not want health insurance (mainly young people without children, but also those who do not qualify for healthcare subsidies and can’t afford health insurance on their own). These people will be fined severely under the healthcare bill.
The bill does address issues with preexisting conditions, cancellation of coverage, coverage of dependents, preventative healthcare, and healthcare exchanges accessible by individuals and small companies.
Here is what we DON’T Know:
What the bill fails to address is cost containment of premiums and other healthcare costs which are expected to continue to rise as fast or faster in the future. This is why no one knows how much healthcare will really cost under the healthcare reform bill several years into the future and is one reason companies are passing along more of the cost to employees.
We also are left to see what kinds of deductibles are imposed on those with preexisting conditions or in high risk groups. There is the possibility that the deductibles will make it just as impossible for these people to seek medical care until it’s catastrophic as it is now with no health insurance. This would negate any theorized cost savings offered by insuring these same individuals.
In a Perfect World
It would have been nice, instead of reinventing the wheel, to see the Federal Government focus on regulating the insurance industry in a way that would promote competition, innovation and ethical business practices among health insurers and the health industry.
In a perfect world our government probably should have started with some of the main problems that Americans agree on like: Insurance companies denying coverage or charging unreasonable rates for Americans who suffer with pre-existing conditions; or the medical industry charging outrageous prices for cash paying Americans who can’t afford health insurance, who are not eligible for Medicaid or Medicare but are willing to pay a reasonable price for the medical services they received.
Unfortunately, special interest groups and lobbyists got involved in the negotiations on Health Care Reform because a lot of money was at stake. So now we wait to see how this all plays out and what the actual cost will be. Several States have filed suit claiming the fines on individuals are unconstitutional so we will keep you posted on any new information as it becomes available.
